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Europe and the Faith

By Hilaire Belloc (1870-1953)

The Catholic brings to history (when I say "history" in these
pages I mean the history of Christendom) self-knowledge. As a
man in the confessional accuses himself of what he knows to
be true and what other people cannot judge, so a Catholic,
talking of the united European civilization, when he blames it,
blames it for motives and for acts which are his own. He
himself could have done those things in person. He is not relatively right in his
blame, he is absolutely right. As a man can testify to his own motive so can the
Catholic testify to unjust, irrelevant, or ignorant conceptions of the European
story; for he knows why and how it proceeded. Others, not Catholic, look upon
the story of Europe externally as strangers. "They" have to deal with something
which presents itself to them partially and disconnectedly, by its phenomena
alone: "he" sees it all from its centre in its essence, and together. (Hilaire Belloc)

Read by Ray Clare; total running time: 08:11:33. Dedicated Proof-Listeners:
mim@can; Betty M. Meta-Coordinator/Cataloging: Karen Merline.

This recording is in the public domain and may be reproduced, distributed, or modified without permission.
For more information or to volunteer, visit librivox.org. Author photo is a press photograph from the George
Grantham Bain collection, which was purchased by the Library of Congress in 1948. According to the library,
there are no known restrictions on the use of these photos. Cover image by Gustove Loiseau (1907). Copyright
expired in US, Canada, EU, and all countries with author's life +70 yrs laws. Cover design by Janette Brown. This
design is in the public domain.